Nigeria recorded 643 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, bringing total cases to 34,259. Announcing via its website, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said six more coronavirus-associated deaths were reported in the country on Wednesday, bringing total confirmed fatalities to 760. 

It added that 13, 999 coronavirus patients have been discharged upon treatment and recovery from the Federal Capital Territory Abuja and 35 states.

The federal government warned yesterday that though COVID-19 presents symptoms similar to malaria such as fever, both diseases are caused by different organisms and differ in mode of transmission.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) stated this on its official twitter handle, warning that Nigerians should resist the temptation of taking COVID-19 and malaria as the same infection. This is just as the NCDC announced 653 new cases in the country, as total number of infections from the virus rose to 36,107.

Over 500 new coronavirus cases in Nigeria have raised the nationwide tally to 38,344, authorities announced on Wednesday. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 543 more COVID-19 cases and eight fatalities were recorded in the country on Wednesday.

The new figure of infections shows a slight decrease from the 576 cases reported on Tuesday. Nigeria has averaged over 500 cases per day in almost two weeks. The death toll in the country rose to 813 while a total of 15,815 patients have recovered from the virus.

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) Wednesday said there is no hiding place anymore for fake pharmacists in the profession, as it is working with the Nigerian Police Force and other law enforcement agents to ensure that they face the full wrath of the law. It further said that erring pharmacists will also be made to face the full extent of extant laws governing the practice of Pharmacy in the country, as the practice of pharmacy concerns life and death. 

The Chairman of the PCN, Prof. Ahmed Mora, made this known in Abuja during the inaugural meeting of the Investigating Panel of PCN. Those inaugurated to the Investigating Panel were – Pharm. Yakubu Akawu, Pharm. Umar Garba Gumau, Pharm. Edith Egbuonu, Prof. Moses Akanmu. Others were Prof. Garba Uthman Sadiq, Pharm. Ifraimu Irimiya Kifasi, FPSN, and Pharm. Williams Etubiebi.

The National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, ( NGGDP) Benue state chapter, said they will not call off the ongoing strike until government meet their demands. Members of the Association have been on indefinite strike for over a month.

They are demanding for an improve welfare and better working conditions. Among their demand are nonpayment of 2017 salary arrears to health workers, delay in payment of monthly salaries to all health workers,

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Tuesday said it had set up five new COVID – 19 testing laboratories in the country.

The new centres will be located at Edo Specialist Hospital, Benin; ATBU Teaching Hospital, Bauchi; Rivers Indorama Company Molecular Lab; State Specialist Hospital, Amachara, Abia; and University of Abuja, Gwagwalada GX Lab. The NCDC in a statement said the development brought the total number of laboratories in its Molecular Laboratory Network to 58.

The House of Representatives has told the World Health Organisation to be fair in its regulation of clinical trials for COVID-19 drugs and vaccines. Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, Mr. Tanko Sununu, said this in Abuja on Wednesday at a meeting with the new WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Mulombo, and five health-related committees of the House. 

Sununu noted that the outgoing country representative maintained a healthy relationship with the National Assembly, especially the health committees, saying he hoped that Mulombo would relate with the parliament same way.

Nigeria has received an $890 million grant from the Global Fund to reduce the burden of HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria over an implementation period of three years, beginning from 2021 to 2023. The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, announced the receipt of the grant at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF) is an innovative international financing mechanism established by the United Nations in 2002, with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Two studies offered new hope of a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus on Monday, as the World Health Organization warned about a possible acceleration of the disease in Africa.

Seven months after COVID-19 was first identified in China and has since killed more than 600,000 people worldwide and battered economies, there is growing alarm over fresh outbreaks of the disease. Until recently, Africa had remained relatively unscathed by the pandemic compared to other parts of the world.

More than 10,000 health workers in 40 African countries have been infected with the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. The pandemic is gathering pace in Africa, with some 750,000 cases and more than 15,000 deaths across the continent, according to the WHO.

“The growth we are seeing is placing an ever peg eater strain on health services across the continent,’’ WHO Africa Director, Matshidiso Moeti, said. “This has very real consequences for the individuals who work in them,’’ Moeti added.